Advanced computer hardware systems operate with complex computer software programs. Computer system designers typically separate the virtual address space, the address space used by programmers in their development of software, and the physical address space, the address space used by the computer system. This separation allows programmers to think in terms of their conceptual models, and to design computer software programs without reference to specific hardware implementations. During the actual execution of programs by the computer system, however, these separate addresses must be reconciled by translating software program virtual addresses into actual physical addresses that can be accessed in a computer memory subsystem.
There are many well known approaches for address translation in the memory management mechanism of a computer system. These approaches fall into basically two major categories: those which map the smaller virtual (sometimes called logical, symbolic or user) addresses onto larger physical or real memory addresses, and those which map larger virtual addresses onto smaller physical memory. Translation mechanisms of the former category are employed typically in minicomputers in which relatively small address fields (e.g.: 16 bit addresses) are mapped onto larger real memory. Translation mechanisms of the second category are used typically in microprocessors, workstations and mainframes. Within each of these categories, segmentation only, paging only, and a combination of segmentation and paging are well known for accomplishing the translation process.
The present invention is primarily directed to address translation mechanisms where larger virtual addresses are mapped onto smaller physical addresses, and further to systems where segmentation and optional paging is employed.
In a segmentation portion of an address translation system, the address space of a user program (or programs cooperatively operating as processes or tasks), is regarded as a collection of segments which have common high-level properties, such as code, data, stack, etc. The segmented address space is referenced by a 2-tuple, known as a virtual address, consisting of the following fields: <<s>,<d>>, where <s> refers to a segment number (also called identifier or locator), and <d> refers to a displacement or offset, such as a byte displacement or offset, within the segment identified by the segment number. The virtual address <17,421>, for example, refers to the 421st byte in segment 17. The segmentation portion of the address translation mechanism, using information created by the operating system of the computer system, translates the virtual address into a linear address in a linear address space.
In a paging portion of an address translation system, a linear (or intermediate) address space consists of a group of pages. Each page is the same size (i.e. it contains the same number of addresses in the linear space). The linear address space is mapped onto a multiple of these pages, commonly, by considering the linear address space as the 2-tuple consisting of the following fields: <<page number >,<page offset>>. The page number (or page frame number) determines which linear page is referenced. The page offset is the offset or displacement, typically a byte offset, within the selected page.
In a paged system, the real (physical) memory of a computer is conceptually divided into a number of page frames, each page frame capable of holding a single page. Individual pages in the real memory are then located by the address translation mechanism by using one or more page tables created for, and maintained by, the operating system. These page tables are a mapping from a page number to a page frame. A specific page may or may not be present in the real memory at any point in time.
Address translation mechanisms which employ both segmentation and paging are well known in the art. There are two common subcategories within this area of virtual address translation schemes: address translation in which paging is an integral part of the segmentation mechanism; and, address translation in which paging is independent from segmentation.
In prior art address translation mechanisms where paging is an integral part of the segmentation mechanism, the page translation can proceed in parallel with the segment translation since segments must start at page boundaries and are fixed at an integer number of pages. The segment number typically identifies a specific page table and the segment offset identifies a page number (through the page table) and an offset within that page. While this mechanism has the advantage of speed (since the steps can proceed in parallel) it is not flexible (each segment must start at a fixed page boundary) and is not optimal from a space perspective (e.g. an integer number of pages must be used, even when the segment may only spill over to a fraction of another page).
In prior art address translation mechanisms where paging is independent from segmentation, page translation generally cannot proceed until an intermediate, or linear, address is first calculated by the segmentation mechanism. The resultant linear address is then mapped onto a specific page number and an offset within the page by the paging mechanism. The page number identifies a page frame through a page table, and the offset identifies the offset within that page. In such mechanisms, multiple segments can be allocated into a single page, a single segment can comprise multiple pages, or a combination of the above, since segments are allowed to start on any byte boundary, and have any byte length. Thus, in these systems, while there is flexibility in terms of the segment/page relationship, this flexibility comes at a cost of decreased address translation speed.
Certain prior art mechanisms where segmentation is independent from paging allow for optional paging. The segmentation step is always applied, but the paging step is either performed or not performed as selected by the operating system. These mechanisms typically allow for backward compatibility with systems in which segmentation was present, but paging was not included.
Typical of the prior art known to the Applicant in which paging is integral to segmentation is the Multics virtual memory, developed by Honeywell and described by the book, “The Multics System”, by Elliott Organick. Typical of the prior art known to the Applicant in which optional paging is independent from segmentation is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,836 assigned to the Intel Corporation, and that described in the Honeywell DPS-8 Assembly Instructions Manual. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,225 assigned to the Sperry Rand Corporation contains a detailed discussion of general segmentation and paging techniques, and presents a detailed overview of the problems of virtual address translation.
Accordingly, a key limitation of the above prior art methods and implementations where segmentation is independent from paging is that the linear address must be fully calculated by the segmentation mechanism each time before the page translation can take place for each new virtual address. Only subsequent to the linear address calculation, can page translation take place. In high performance computer systems computer systems, this typically takes two full or more machine cycles and is performed on each memory reference. This additional overhead often can reduce the overall performance of the system significantly.